Tag Archives: life

Social media has been, for me, a blessing and a curse. I love using Social Media. I love talking to people, meeting new people, and being able to network with people who have similar interests as me. I love the fact that I can have a conversation with a 16 year old millionaire from England, Rackers, Microsoft Execs, and even social media “kings” such as Jason Calacanis. These people are highly talented, and tend to offer some of the best up-to-date information on the web. They’re also invaluable resources of general connection, and conversation.

I’ll sign up for every new social site, and give it a try. I love being able to interact with people in different ways, and being able to share different information. It allows me to define who I am, for others to “dial in” on who I am. It also allows me to network with those who share similar interests, and what’s not great about that?!

However, recently I’ve noticed the major differences in the data I post to each social media site. I posted something on Facebook, intended for my friends and family, asking for advice about career direction and possible relocation. The post was spawned by my emotions, due to the ever closer departure from my family vacation. What I forgot was, I had a client on my Facebook page. He mentioned it to my partner, stating he was a bit uneasy and this threw me off. The conversation was intended to spark intelligent advice, not out of a serious want to leave. I would never desert a company I’ve worked so hard to help build. Ever. You have to watch what you say on social media more and more because even the smallest comment, can be taken the wrong way. You wouldn’t want to live in a glass house. Maybe you would…creeper ;] (Kidding.)

On Twitter, I often find myself having to be 100% socially polite and acceptable, which is fine. People on Twitter don’t want to hear about your complaints (Not constantly, I can handle a little nagging, but if you hate your life, take it to Myspace, or a blog or something.) I use Twitter as an information and professional social networking tool, whereas I use Facebook for my complaints, emotions, and to communicate with family and friends. There is no reason for anything other than useful/social interactions to be on Twitter, at least in my personal opinion. I use Foursquare to “check-in” to large public venues, and Facebook Places to make comments about them. Why do I do that? No idea, but I find it shares just the right amount of data, even though I can do the same thing with both. But, Foursquare does offer incentives, with badges and special promotions….which plays a big part in it ;-].

I recently learned that, when you post a Facebook post to the “Big Wall/News Feed”, you can customize who can or can’t see the post. You can even set it so that only you can see it. I found this useful for having a possibly “drama centered” debate or conversation between two people. It worked perfectly, and I highly recommend clicking that little lock button next to the “Share” button and checking it out.

I’ve learned that social media, can build you, or it can break you. Tread carefully, watch what you post, and think to yourself “Would my boss/mother/father approve of this tweet? Could it be taken the wrong way?” I’ve learned many lessons about social media, and I encourage you to always review your content, even if it’s just 140 characters ;]

If you’re questioning yourself, just don’t post it.

I am constantly trying to better myself, complain less on Twitter, and post useful information. I am even looking for one of those supposed “Social Media Trainers”, as I believe I could greatly improve myself with some pro tips. Communication is something I am currently pushing myself to improve, and I encourage everyone else to do the same. I’m not perfect, but I hope others can learn from any advice I can offer, even if sometimes we don’t take our own advice.

Recently I attended BMPR, and the topic of discussion was SEO. All the speakers were especially knowledgeable in their areas of expertise (Which means: SEO (Search Engine Optimization)).

One suggestion and tip was to go after the low hanging fruit. What this means is: Your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, any profile whatsoever, to include forums, should always contain your URL.

I still agree with this, as people may often view your profile, and or all it takes is that one right person to click your profile then the link. However for SEO purposes it’s almost useless. @firecatsue did a great presentation, and by no means am I being negative or trying to harm her or her reputation, just trying to make sure everyone knows the facts about low hanging fruits, as sometime you can be mislead as to what really counts.

I’ve always wanted to help people. I’ve had this desire to create or manage a project, business, or idea and be able to run with it, and watch it become the perfect “thing”. That’s what drove me to start my own web hosting business in 2004. I wanted to offer people affordable solutions, at a great price, but still be as awesome as the more expensive alternatives.

Why web hosting? The internet is obviously the now. It’s not the “future”, it is the future as much as it is the now. People need access to information, web sites, games, whatever may be online and they need it now. I want to be a part of that and that’s what drives me.

I want to be a part of this internet revolution, and at the end be able to be a part of it. Helping people, and businesses, while helping myself at the same time is the absolute dream. It’s why I chose to work at Rackspace, that’s why I started InvisionGaming in 2004, and it’s what I want to do with my career. It’s what I’m doing now! Along with web design, printing, and more.

I love developing (Primarily PHP), I love administrating and solving problems (Systems Administration) and that’s a big part of what I do. I want to be useful, and I use the word I very carefully, as it’s obviously an combined effort of multiple people.

I want to go out there, build applications, make people’s lives easier, and not have to trash their or my wallet while I do it.

Sometimes starting a web hosting company can be difficult, in todays economy with so many choices. Sure you can go to GoDaddy, or Bluehost, or any of those and get a similar product for $5 a month. “Unlimited Disk Space”, bandwidth, and more.

I thought we were told, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Right?

I offer the world: Me. The Kyle Experience. Let me wow you, let me help you, and let’s grow together. If I only get and or help 10 customers, then those are 10 people who I’ve had a positive impact on. Sure is better than doing nothing whatsoever, isn’t it? I’m not trying to compete with Rackspace, Bluehost, or Godaddy, I’m simply trying to help people, and just happen to be in direct competition with the interests of said listed companies.

Rather than focusing on making other companies look bad, or fishing for their customers, I respect each and every one, and what they do. We’re in this business together, trying to help people. I do, however, believe some companies like GoDaddy are forgetting the customer, and focusing more on the bottom line, but that seems to be a popular trend.

This is why I do what I do, and that’s why I’ve jumped right back into the game with Custom Hosting Solutions. I guess it means that we are your “mom and pop” shop, where you get the same features, but the customer service is just great. I want to interact with my customers, let’s follow each other on twitter, let’s add each other to our google talk.

Hello Internet,
Lately I’ve been enjoying my new Sprint HTC Evo 4G a lot. However, one problem I, and a couple others have run into, is that our alarms would not go off! After doing some research and testing, I realized that every night I, and most people, use our Task Killers to kill all tasks on our phones. This, unfortunately, also kills the alarm program.

The solution is easy, open up your favorite task killer program, and add the clock application to the “Ignore” or “Exempt” list, and the issue should clear right up.